Decoy Octopus
Decoy Octopus was the impersonation expert and mimic of FOXHOUND during the Shadow Moses Incident. Octopus was one of the older squad members of FOXHOUND under Liquid Snake's command,Metal Gear Solid, Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (1998). Revoler Ocelot: "FOXDIE... It killed Octopus and the ArmsTech president... So it's true that it affects older people first." and the only operative whose primary specialty wasn't in combat. Biography Early life There is very little that is known about Decoy Octopus. A master of disguise, he would alter his appearance and voice to perfectly match that of his subject. His disguises were so thorough, Octopus would go as far as to take in the blood of the subject he was copying. In his normal appearance, he lacked ears and possessed a flattened nose, which would have made disguising himself easier. In 2005, Decoy Octopus and the other members of FOXHOUND, along with the Next-Generation Special Forces, staged a revolt against the U.S. government on Shadow Moses Island, taking DARPA Chief Donald Anderson and ArmsTech President Kenneth Baker as hostages. After FOXHOUND's interrogation specialist, Revolver Ocelot, killed Anderson during a torture session, Psycho Mantis suggested an idea to squad commander Liquid Snake: Decoy Octopus should disguise himself as the DARPA Chief as part of a plan to access the island's nuclear weapons. Several hours later, Solid Snake was sent to infiltrate the Shadow Moses facility, eventually gaining access to the DARPA Chief's supposed holding cell. Octopus, in disguise, revealed to Snake that the terrorists did indeed have the ability to make a nuclear strike thanks to Metal Gear REX. Snake was shocked at the presence of Metal Gear and Octopus informed him that the terrorists needed two detonation codes to activate REX: one from himself, which the terrorists already had, and one from Kenneth Baker. Fortunately for Snake, there were three PAL keys that he could use to disarm REX. He also claimed that his code was discovered by the terrorists via Psycho Mantis. In reality, the terrorists had been unable to acquire the DARPA Chief's code due to his death from Ocelot's botched torture session and partially because Psycho Mantis couldn't read the DARPA Chief's mind due to cerebral implants designed to resist Mantis's mind-reading skills, and only possessed Baker's, so they intended to trick Snake into arming REX via the PAL system. Before Snake could escort him to safety, Octopus enquired about other possible methods of disarming the PAL, as well as the White House's response to the terrorists' demands, and the involvement of the Pentagon. After Snake is unable to answer his questions, the "DARPA Chief" inexplicably succumbed to a heart attack, and died right before Snake's eyes. Decoy Octopus's body was eventually retrieved by fellow FOXHOUND Vulcan Raven, who later revealed to Snake that he had actually encountered the impersonation expert, rather than a hostage. After only coming into contact with Snake for a short time, Octopus had been killed by the FOXDIE virus, for which Snake had been used as a vector by the Pentagon. The real Donald Anderson was the corpse that Snake had earlier found in a prison cell, after being imprisoned himself. His blood had been drained and swapped with Octopus's blood, as part of his disguise. Unconfirmed history Born in Mexico, Decoy Octopus later moved to Hollywood and became a successful actor and SFX artist.Metal Gear Solid Official Mission Handbook, Millenium Books, (1998).Metal Gear Solid by Raymond Benson, Del Rey (2008). "From Mexico, there's Decoy Octopus, a master of disguise. He speaks a dozen languages and is an expert in transforming his appearance."'' Afterwards, he was recruited by the CIA for his exceptional skills in mimicry, where he was assigned to impersonate government VIPs on top secret missions, and requested that the military to give him a full mental deprogramming after missions to avoid becoming mentally confused about his identity. He later left the CIA to join the FOXHOUND unit. Octopus was fluent in a dozen languages. At least some of these languages were French, German, Spanish, and Ebonics. At some point in his life, he had his hairline, cheekbones, jaw, and nasal bones shaved down, and cut off his ears to make disguising himself easier, and had computerized implants which allowed for him to change his voice. Behind the scenes In Metal Gear Solid, Octopus is only vaguely seen in his normal appearance once, though his actual voice is never heard. Decoy Octopus's "ghost" appears in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, if the player photographs the cargo elevator in the Tank Hangar. The image is that of his face portrait from artwork for the original Metal Gear Solid. According to the non-canon fan webcomic The Last Days of FOXHOUND, Decoy Octopus was intended to pose as Master Miller during the Shadow Moses Incident, but he ended up posing as Donald Anderson instead after the latter's death via a supposedly botched torture session under Revolver Ocelot. Gallery File:Mgs-decoy-octopus.jpg|Yoji Shinkawa's artwork. File:Mgs-sketch-octopus.jpg|Decoy Octopus sketch. File:Donald_Anderson.JPG|The DARPA Chief, whom Octopus impersonated. Sources * Metal Gear Solid Notes and references Category:MGS Characters